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Wednesday, 16 May 2012

The Ten Commandments Test

In the previous ten articles we took
stock of each of the Ten Commandments. With help from the rest of Scripture, we
reached some surprising conclusions about what these commandments are really
saying. Now it’s time to take the Ten Commandments test: have you kept the Ten
Commandments? Note that if you have broken even one of the Ten Commandments on
one occasion, you fail the test. As it is written in James 2:10, “For whoever
keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of
it.”

The Commandments, again, read as
follows:

1)I am the LORD your God…you shall have no other
gods before me.

We saw in the first article in
the series that to keep this commandment, one must put God first in thought,
word and deed; in business and leisure; in the use of our money, time and
talents. I think nearly all of us have flunked out at this point, but for
interest’s sake let’s continue.

2)You shall not make for yourself a carved
image…you shall not bow down to them or serve them…

You may not literally bow down to
idols, but do you follow celebrities’ lives obsessively? Are you transfixed by
the modern equivalent of carved images – digital images (television, internet,
video games, etc.?) Are you caught up in the visible world around you or do you
always keep your focus on the unseen God?

3)You shall not take the name of the LORD your God
in vain…

Most of us would have to admit
we’ve broken this commandment, whether through habitual use of the Lord’s name
as a curse or exclamation, or through pretentious religiosity which we used to
further our own interests.

4)Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…

There are different
interpretations of how this Commandment applies today. Regardless, however, the
spirit of this commandment is that we need to set apart a significant chunk of
time to spend with God in worship, prayer, fellowship, Bible study and good
deeds. That means a lot more than just showing up at a weekly church service.

5)Honour your father and your mother…

Anyone who went through a
rebellious phase in their adolescence can step aside (there goes me). But
honouring your parents is not only about obeying and respecting your parents
while you are in their care. It is also about about caring for them in their
old age.

6)You shall not murder.

Jesus taught us that we need not
physically kill someone in order to break this commandment. Living in hatred,
anger and malice toward another human being is enough. Can anyone claim innocence
from this?

7)You shall not commit adultery.

In the same way, Jesus taught us
that the proverbial ‘roving eye’ is as much a violation of the commandment as
the physical act of adultery. Any of us who have looked at porn also stand
condemned.

8)You shall not steal.

Most of us would be outraged at
being labeled a thief, but when a broader definition of stealing is considered,
most of us deserve to be. Between bribery, tax evasion, neglecting to return
something borrowed, downloading music, movies and software that we haven’t paid
for, most of us ought to consider ourselves caught red-handed.

9)You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbour.

The person who claims he has
never told a lie has just added one more to his tally. Most of us could hardly
go a week without attempting to disguise or distort the truth in some way.

10)You shall not covet…

Whenever we are dissatisfied with
what God has given us, and long for the things he has given to others, we are
being covetous and idolatrous. Nearly all of us fall into this trap from time
to time.

So, being honest I would have to
say my score is 0 out of 10. And these are not the only commandments. These are
a good representation of God’s moral law, but James 4:17 tells us that “Whoever
knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” We have all
failed to do a good deed that we knew we should do. The bottom line is, God’s
commandments are impossible to keep through human effort: “By the works of the
law no human being will be justified in God’s sight…for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:20, 23).

The good news is, Jesus paid the
price of our sins and God offers salvation as a gift to all who trust in him.
He will then work with us through his Spirit and enable us to grow in
righteousness (Romans 8:9-10). That is what this study of the Ten Commandments
has been all about: shutting down our boasting (Romans 3:27), bringing us to
rock bottom so that we can see that our only hope for justification is to pray,
“God, be merciful to me a sinner!” (Luke 18:13)

2 comments:

Wonderful to see such a great review of the 10 commandments. I've been writing on them one by one (on my blog) and finding myself just wanting to go deeper on the subject. Thanks for bringing it up! - daynawrites.blogspot.com

Thanks Tom! I've been writing/exploring the same subject this month... and finding there is so much in the commandments, yet they are so sparsely put... I see God's hand in them for sure. Blessings, daynawrites.blogspot.com

About

Welcome to the personal blog of Thomas Farrar. Content consists mainly of biblical studies, theology and Church history written at a semi-technical level.

About the author

I am a Canadian residing in Cape Town, South Africa. I was received into the Roman Catholic Church at the 2017 Easter Vigil, having previously been a Baptist and, before that, a Christadelphian. A statistics lecturer by profession, I hold an Honours degree in theology and have published in peer-reviewed biblical studies journals. My curriculum vitae can be downloaded here. I enjoy spending time with my lovely wife and family, playing the euphonium, choral singing, reading, and writing.